Author
Topic: S/O Beggars, Moochers and Scammers (Read 774556 times)

I am livid. I know it does me no good to become angry, but .... how stupid do they think I am?

Phone rings, waking me up from nap.

"Hi, this is John from the shipping department of [something like] Emergency Alert Services."

[My thought: I didn't order anything like that] "What?"

"You know, it's your new 'I've fallen and I can't get up' kind of system"

[RED LIGHTS OF SEVERAL KINDS GO ON: (1) I hope the company that registered that trademark doesn't find out about this scam, (2) Yeah, it's definitely a scam, why don't they just ask what model copier I allegedly ordered toner for? (3) Do I string this guy along until he asks for a credit card number so he can 'activate the service'? (4) Do I just set the phone down and let him waste his time for a few minutes? (5) Do I put on my old-fogey voice and ask 'Oh, yes, by cracky, sonny, my great-grandson said he was orderin' me one of them newfangled things, tell me more'? (6)Do I see how many indecent proposals I can make before he gives up?] "No"

"We have to know where to send..."

"No, just no!"

"Well, this order is already in the system..."

[How long is he going to try?] NO! [I hang up]

So, question: do they think that everyone in their 60's and up is incredibly stupid?

I am a type II diabetic, and take medication to control it. Somehow, this diagnosis has been sold to marketing people, and I get mailings intended for the 60+ age bracket. I will not qualify for another 16 years! No, I don't need your Hurry-cane!

I am a type II diabetic, and take medication to control it. Somehow, this diagnosis has been sold to marketing people, and I get mailings intended for the 60+ age bracket. I will not qualify for another 16 years! No, I don't need your Hurry-cane!

Ladyknight ~~ I don't have diabetes and neither does my husband. In fact, as far as we know, no one in our extended families has ever been diabetic. Yet, we get mail from various companies all the time wanting us to try their various products. It's a complete puzzle.

Today when I went to swim class, I put my purse and street clothes in one of the lockers at the pool and locked it with a Master combination lock. At that time, my locker was the only one in that area being used. I did my class, came back to prep for water aerobics and found no lock. I said, "Where the heck is my lock?" A woman popped out from one of the changing stalls and told me, "I came back from my swim and my lock didn't work, so I had one of the employees saw it off. When I opened the locker, I found your clothes. I've been sitting here waiting for you to explain." She offered me her lock in exchange or to give me $$ to replace my lock, which she left with the guys at the front desk.

My problem with this, is when the pool employee discovered that he had opened the wrong locker, left a woman I didn't know and never had seen before in charge of my stuff, including my CAR FOB, CREDIT CARDS and DRIVER'S LICENSE. It looked like everything was still there and untouched, but how do I know for sure?

I went back out and told my swim instructor that I didn't appreciate the guy sawing off my lock on the word of, then leaving my property in the care of a total stranger. I will be expressing my displeasure to the pool manager tomorrow.

Today when I went to swim class, I put my purse and street clothes in one of the lockers at the pool and locked it with a Master combination lock. At that time, my locker was the only one in that area being used. I did my class, came back to prep for water aerobics and found no lock. I said, "Where the heck is my lock?" A woman popped out from one of the changing stalls and told me, "I came back from my swim and my lock didn't work, so I had one of the employees saw it off. When I opened the locker, I found your clothes. I've been sitting here waiting for you to explain." She offered me her lock in exchange or to give me $$ to replace my lock, which she left with the guys at the front desk.

My problem with this, is when the pool employee discovered that he had opened the wrong locker, left a woman I didn't know and never had seen before in charge of my stuff, including my CAR FOB, CREDIT CARDS and DRIVER'S LICENSE. It looked like everything was still there and untouched, but how do I know for sure?

I went back out and told my swim instructor that I didn't appreciate the guy sawing off my lock on the word of, then leaving my property in the care of a total stranger. I will be expressing my displeasure to the pool manager tomorrow.

You do realize all she had to do was take a picture of each side of your credit cards and other ID with her cellphone and put everything back and you'd never know, right?

Today when I went to swim class, I put my purse and street clothes in one of the lockers at the pool and locked it with a Master combination lock. At that time, my locker was the only one in that area being used. I did my class, came back to prep for water aerobics and found no lock. I said, "Where the heck is my lock?" A woman popped out from one of the changing stalls and told me, "I came back from my swim and my lock didn't work, so I had one of the employees saw it off. When I opened the locker, I found your clothes. I've been sitting here waiting for you to explain." She offered me her lock in exchange or to give me $$ to replace my lock, which she left with the guys at the front desk.

My problem with this, is when the pool employee discovered that he had opened the wrong locker, left a woman I didn't know and never had seen before in charge of my stuff, including my CAR FOB, CREDIT CARDS and DRIVER'S LICENSE. It looked like everything was still there and untouched, but how do I know for sure?

I went back out and told my swim instructor that I didn't appreciate the guy sawing off my lock on the word of, then leaving my property in the care of a total stranger. I will be expressing my displeasure to the pool manager tomorrow.

You do realize all she had to do was take a picture of each side of your credit cards and other ID with her cellphone and put everything back and you'd never know, right?

That's exactly the issue I will be addressing with the pool manager. It would have made more sense for the employee to have bagged my stuff and taken it to the office and left a note on the locker to see them. Instead, he exited and left my locker unsecured and open to anyone who wanted to steal my car, cash, identity, or even stuff from my house.

The ironic part of this is they had the instructor tell us that with the middle-school students coming from next door for P.E., it would be wise for us to bring locks to secure our stuff in lockers to keep things from disappearing.

Today when I went to swim class, I put my purse and street clothes in one of the lockers at the pool and locked it with a Master combination lock. At that time, my locker was the only one in that area being used. I did my class, came back to prep for water aerobics and found no lock. I said, "Where the heck is my lock?" A woman popped out from one of the changing stalls and told me, "I came back from my swim and my lock didn't work, so I had one of the employees saw it off. When I opened the locker, I found your clothes. I've been sitting here waiting for you to explain." She offered me her lock in exchange or to give me $$ to replace my lock, which she left with the guys at the front desk.

My problem with this, is when the pool employee discovered that he had opened the wrong locker, left a woman I didn't know and never had seen before in charge of my stuff, including my CAR FOB, CREDIT CARDS and DRIVER'S LICENSE. It looked like everything was still there and untouched, but how do I know for sure?

I went back out and told my swim instructor that I didn't appreciate the guy sawing off my lock on the word of, then leaving my property in the care of a total stranger. I will be expressing my displeasure to the pool manager tomorrow.

You do realize all she had to do was take a picture of each side of your credit cards and other ID with her cellphone and put everything back and you'd never know, right?

That's exactly the issue I will be addressing with the pool manager. It would have made more sense for the employee to have bagged my stuff and taken it to the office and left a note on the locker to see them. Instead, he exited and left my locker unsecured and open to anyone who wanted to steal my car, cash, identity, or even stuff from my house.

The ironic part of this is they had the instructor tell us that with the middle-school students coming from next door for P.E., it would be wise for us to bring locks to secure our stuff in lockers to keep things from disappearing.

I think my head is going to explode. Please update after speaking to the pool manager. That is so utterly beyond bizarre and there was no way to avoid the bizarreness...

(5) Do I put on my old-fogey voice and ask 'Oh, yes, by cracky, sonny, my great-grandson said he was orderin' me one of them newfangled things, tell me more'?

So, question: do they think that everyone in their 60's and up is incredibly stupid?

Calm down, it's nothing personal. Yes, #5, please.

And no, they don't think everyone is that stupid, but enough people bite that it is worth the effort, sadly.

At least they are putting some (annoying) effort into it, while the ones with the emails are just fishing/phishing and being annoying with no work!

My 80+ year old MIL, who is also mostly blind and totally techno-phobic, gets these calls at least once a month. Before we talked her in to letting us get her a unit through my work (cell phone company - we sell one, too, but it works everywhere and not just in her house near the speaker) she loved messing with these people - her record was over an hour, going back and forth with one, and never giving them enough information to even try to mail her one.

Now she just says "I've got one, and if you don't take me off your list, I'm going to use it to call the cops on you". They hang up fast!

My 80+ year old MIL, who is also mostly blind and totally techno-phobic, gets these calls at least once a month. Before we talked her in to letting us get her a unit through my work (cell phone company - we sell one, too, but it works everywhere and not just in her house near the speaker) she loved messing with these people - her record was over an hour, going back and forth with one, and never giving them enough information to even try to mail her one.

Now she just says "I've got one, and if you don't take me off your list, I'm going to use it to call the cops on you". They hang up fast!

LOL! I think I love your MIL. I hope I can be that feisty in a few years when I'm 80+! She sounds like she's a lot of fun.

My 80+ year old MIL, who is also mostly blind and totally techno-phobic, gets these calls at least once a month. Before we talked her in to letting us get her a unit through my work (cell phone company - we sell one, too, but it works everywhere and not just in her house near the speaker) she loved messing with these people - her record was over an hour, going back and forth with one, and never giving them enough information to even try to mail her one.

Now she just says "I've got one, and if you don't take me off your list, I'm going to use it to call the cops on you". They hang up fast!

LOL! I think I love your MIL. I hope I can be that feisty in a few years when I'm 80+! She sounds like she's a lot of fun.

She's a hoot. Has had an 'imaginary boyfriend' for years - we tease her about having seen him recently, is she going to see him tonight, he looked so nice the last time we saw him.... it's Steven Segal. She LOVES his movies! Imagine her disappointment when she learned that he uses such bad words when the movies aren't on TV! She's truly an example of grown older but not grown up.

Today when I went to swim class, I put my purse and street clothes in one of the lockers at the pool and locked it with a Master combination lock. At that time, my locker was the only one in that area being used. I did my class, came back to prep for water aerobics and found no lock. I said, "Where the heck is my lock?" A woman popped out from one of the changing stalls and told me, "I came back from my swim and my lock didn't work, so I had one of the employees saw it off. When I opened the locker, I found your clothes. I've been sitting here waiting for you to explain." She offered me her lock in exchange or to give me $$ to replace my lock, which she left with the guys at the front desk.

My problem with this, is when the pool employee discovered that he had opened the wrong locker, left a woman I didn't know and never had seen before in charge of my stuff, including my CAR FOB, CREDIT CARDS and DRIVER'S LICENSE. It looked like everything was still there and untouched, but how do I know for sure?

I went back out and told my swim instructor that I didn't appreciate the guy sawing off my lock on the word of, then leaving my property in the care of a total stranger. I will be expressing my displeasure to the pool manager tomorrow.

You do realize all she had to do was take a picture of each side of your credit cards and other ID with her cellphone and put everything back and you'd never know, right?

That's exactly the issue I will be addressing with the pool manager. It would have made more sense for the employee to have bagged my stuff and taken it to the office and left a note on the locker to see them. Instead, he exited and left my locker unsecured and open to anyone who wanted to steal my car, cash, identity, or even stuff from my house.

The ironic part of this is they had the instructor tell us that with the middle-school students coming from next door for P.E., it would be wise for us to bring locks to secure our stuff in lockers to keep things from disappearing.

I think my head is going to explode. Please update after speaking to the pool manager. That is so utterly beyond bizarre and there was no way to avoid the bizarreness...

Yes, please update! They left your stuff in the hands of a stranger. Plus, a thief could ask for the lock to be cut off of someone else's locker, gather the stuff and leave before anyone's the wiser.

I'm boggled by the locker story. So, the woman thought your locker was hers, and because the lock wouldn't open, had them cut it off? And then just went, "Oops, those aren't my clothes?"

Did she appear to be old enough that she might have dementia, or was she just really, REALLY absentminded?

Logged

My cousin's memoir of love and loneliness while raising a child with multiple disabilities will be out on Amazon soon! Know the Night, by Maria Mutch, has been called "full of hope, light, and companionship for surviving the small hours of the night."